Famine and Chaos: Weaving Cloth in Exile to Escape the War

Seeing the worry on Yang Erniu's face, Yang Dawang's expression darkened, and he scolded, "I'm perfectly fine! I have no fever, no blisters, and no dark spots. I won't die! Go back inside!"

After saying that, Yang Dawang coughed again.

This cough startled everyone in the Yang family, who came out of the house and stood at the door looking at Yang Dawang with worried expressions.

"Old man, are you really alright?" Grandma Yang asked anxiously.

"Old woman, I...I'm fine!" Yang Dawang shook his head. "By the way, has anyone else in the family been bitten by rats?"

Yang Erniu quickly shook his head: "Dad, I just asked, and there's none."

"That's good..." Yang Dawang paused, then coughed a few times. "Didn't Madam Shen say that if you touch a rat, you have to fumigate your body with mugwort? And wash your clothes with boiling water? And fumigate the house with quicklime? You all just touched rats, go back inside and let your wives fumigate everyone properly. I'm going to rest for a while."

"Dad, you really don't have a fever? Try touching your forehead..." Yang Erniu felt that something was wrong with his father today.

His father has always been in good health, and this is the first time he has coughed like this.

"Alright! I'm perfectly fine!" Yang Dawang waved his hand impatiently. "Hurry back to your room and lock the door tightly! Go do what you're supposed to do! I'll call you if I need anything!"

After saying that, without waiting for Yang Erniu's response, he turned around, went into the house, and slammed the door shut.

Outside the door, Gao Xiuqin and Grandma Yang secretly wiped away their tears.

They really wanted to rush in and see if Yang Dawang was alright, but when they remembered Jing Zhichun's words that they were not allowed to get close to Yang Dawang before his illness was confirmed, they had no choice but to give up.

It wasn't that they were afraid of dying, but if Yang Dawang really did fall ill, rushing in now would only cause more trouble, and they might even endanger everyone in his family.

At this point, the family had no choice but to give up.

After a long pause, Old Mrs. Yang wiped her nose hard with her sleeve and said to Yang Erniu, "Erniu, listen to your father first. Tomorrow at dawn, go and invite Madam Shen over. No matter what, you must invite her to take a look at your father. Let's see what's wrong with him so we can have a better understanding of the situation."

"Yes, Mother, I understand. I'll go tomorrow morning." Yang Erniu nodded emphatically, making sure he remembered the matter.

Upon entering the house, Yang Erniu immediately recalled Jing Zhichun's instructions and glanced at his family members.

Yang Sanniu, Yang Tiedan, Daya, Erya, his sister-in-law, his wife, and his third brother's wife all shaved their heads. Only his mother had her hair neatly combed, shining brightly under the oil lamp, and still perfectly coiled at the back of her head.

"Mother," Yang Erniu said to Old Madam Yang, "you need to get your hair cut too. Madam Shen repeatedly told us this, and we can't be careless about it."

Upon hearing this, Old Mrs. Yang instinctively raised her hand to protect her hair bun.

This head of black hair stayed with her her whole life; it was black and shiny, and when she was young, it was one of the best hairs in the village. The old man loved her black hair the most.

Everyone in her family got a haircut today, and she felt bad about it, so she kept putting it off.

She is an extremely clean person and will boil water to wash her hair every ten days or so, confident that she will never get lice or fleas.

So she didn't cut it.

Grandma Yang asked tentatively, "Erniu, does your hair really have to be cut? I wash it all the time, it's clean, and there's no filthy stuff growing on it."

Yang Erniu felt a pang of sadness when he saw the reluctance and pleading in his mother's eyes.

He knew that his mother loved her hair the most, but Madam Shen had said that it had to be shaved bald so that it would be easier to wash and cleaner. Rats love unclean people the most. Although his mother washed her hair more often than they did, it was safer to listen to Madam Shen.

Thinking of this, Yang Erniu steeled his heart, grasped his mother's hand that was protecting her hair bun, and slowly pulled it down. "Mother, it's not that I'm heartless. Madam Shen said it must be shaved completely, not a single hair can be left. She knows medicine, we have to listen to her. Whether it's clean or not, we can't gamble right now."

Whether Dad is sick or not is still unknown. We, the rest of us, mustn't blame the family for dragging us down. Just think of it as... just think of it as doing it for Dad, so that our whole family can survive safely."

As Grandma Yang listened to her son's words, her gaze swept across the bald, worried faces in the room, finally settling on the old man's tightly closed door.

She closed her eyes briefly, and when she opened them again, her reluctance and stubbornness had turned into tears, welling up in her eyes.

After a long pause, Old Mrs. Yang nodded. "...Shave. Erniu is right. I can't hold everyone back."

Seeing that the old lady had agreed to have her head shaved, the rest of the Yang family breathed a sigh of relief.

Gao Xiuqin quickly prepared the razor and, seeing this, rushed forward to help her mother-in-law sit down on the stool.

Grandma Yang straightened her back, closed her eyes, raised her hand and lingered over her hair, then sighed heavily.

Yang Erniu turned his face away, unable to bear to look any longer.

The others also silently turned away.

Yang Erniu quickly began to follow the steps instructed by Jing Zhichun and immediately ordered the others to take action: some to boil water, some to find mugwort, and some to prepare quicklime.

Meanwhile, Yang Dawang, after groggily climbing onto the kang (a heated brick bed), felt his whole body burning hot.

He raised his hand and slowly touched his forehead.

The sensation of heat was intense as soon as my palm touched it.

Suddenly, he felt an itch on his back.

Yang Dawang raised his hand to scratch his back, and as soon as he did so, he realized something was wrong.

His back was no longer flat skin, but a raised, bumpy patch...

This made Yang Dawang's heart skip a beat. He touched his back again, refusing to believe it, and found it covered in bumps.

He has never had any bumps on his back since he was a child.

This happened suddenly.

Then I thought of the illness Kyoto Haru mentioned—high fever and blisters…

Yang Dawang withdrew his hand, struggled to sit up, leaned against the wall, looked at the dark beams, and sighed deeply.

"Sigh... what was bound to happen has finally happened."

"I can't escape it... I can't escape it... This is my fate," Yang Dawang muttered to himself.

After saying that, he lay back down on the kang (a heated brick bed), opened his eyes, and stared at the dark ceiling.

Suddenly, Yang Dawang remembered Jing Zhichun's words.

He remembered that Kyoto Haru had said that the disease would take three to five days to become apparent, and that people with the disease would develop a high fever and blisters.

But today he developed a high fever and blisters.

That means he actually got sick three to five days ago.

Then what about his family members who had contact with him, and Kyo no Haru? Weren't they all implicated by him long ago...?

Thinking of this, Yang Dawang immediately jumped up from the kang (a heated brick bed) and hurriedly got off: "Erniu, Erniu, go quickly and invite Madam Shen!"